Assassin's Creed Collection Loses Weird-Looking NPC
By Fergus O'Sullivan 19 December 2016
Ubisoft releases patch which fixes grimacing, bug-eyed NPC in Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection, a fully remastered anthology of the Florentine’s adventures.
Ubisoft recently released a patch that fixes a number of small issues in Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection, the most striking of which is the odd-looking NPC that made the Internet rounds in November. The plastic-faced bystander, with eyes as big as saucers and lips from a coulrophobic’s nightmare, was first brought to the world’s attention in a video comparing the original version of Assassin’s Creed II to the new, remastered one.
Assassin’s Creed: Ezio Collection includes the second game in the series as well as Brotherhood and Revelations, with all three remastered using updated technology. As with any process, a few mistakes are bound to slip in and the weird-looking henchman became Internet famous for a while. Ubisoft itself seems to have a sense of humor about the whole thing, though, as the patch notes mention that the developers fixed “a weird NPC face.” Check out how “weird” it is in the video below:
At the time the video came out, however, Ubisoft appeared less amused at the attention Bug-Eyes was getting: “The NPC in question only appears in Sequence 1, Memory 1 in Assassin’s Creed 2 and is randomly generated, appearing infrequently,” a spokesperson told Eurogamer.
“The graphics issue does not affect the core gameplay of Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection. Overall, Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection has been well-received by fans and newcomers to the franchise alike. Here at Ubisoft, we’ve been happy to read all the great feedback from gamers as they’ve stepped back in time to relive the adventures of our beloved Ezio.”
The massive attention for Ubisoft’s bug could be simply because fans have little else to talk about this year after the publisher made clear there would be no Assassin’s Creed game in 2016. Currently, the next game in the series is still a rumor, except for the news three months ago that the new Assassin’s Creed would be delayed until 2017 in order to make sure the next installment lives up to the highest standards.
All Assassin’s Creed fans can do right now to get their fix is wait for the movie to come out next week, which its brand manager assures us will be a “milestone” in film making and not a disaster like most video-game films. The cast, featuring stalwarts like Michael Fassbender and Jeremy Irons, will at least will be something to look forward to, while Macbeth director Justin Kurzel hopefully will be able to inject some Shakespeare into the story of the Assassins and the Templars.
Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection is now available on PS4 and Xbox One.
